Ramblings on three originally Dutch TR7's (a '76 FHC, an 80's DHC and an '81 Sprint powered FHC),
including the work done to them and their (ab)use all over Europe. With some of my other passions thrown in from time to time ...

Thursday, 29 October 2009

Picked up the painted body last Tuesday. For the last time (hopefully) it was loaded on the trailer for its final journey as a bare shell. Have to admit I was quite nervous to get her back home, can’t remember ever having driven so carefully! Next time she’ll be on the road she should be ready, at least that’s what I hope. Plan is to have her ready early next spring, giving me more than enough time to finish her properly.

This evening I had nothing better to do so I went over to the shed to admire and drool over the paint job. And to take a few photographs of course, I don’t think they need much explanation!

Think the painter and body men did a great job, looks very smooth and straight. As for the colour, you probably either love it or hate it!

Monday, 26 October 2009

Will pick up the body tomorrow afternoon, so my little Landy will be put to use again. Tonight the sills, rear quarter panels and lower wind screen finisher were painted matt black, more or less to the original spec. Rather curious how it looks, should contrast nicely with the bright Triton Green...

I went over to the paint shop late Friday afternoon to pick up the doors. As the body was standing in the paint shop’s large assembly hall (which is very bright) I got a good impression of the paint job. First impression was rather bright, it really stood out against all the modern grey cars surrounding it ... Second impression was how well all the body work had been done (thx guys), highlighted by a very nice paint job. Only found two minor faults so far, which look like they will polish out without too much trouble.

As for the colour, in broad daylight it looks absolutely gorgeous. It might be a bit brighter than the original Triton Green, but I love it already. Rather curious how the body will look with the black sills. To be honest I can’t wait to start assembling the car now :-)

Wednesday, 21 October 2009

This evening the body was finally painted. To start with a picture of the
final preparations before the body went into the spray booth, degreasing;

After which she was as ready as could be for painting;

Here the first coat is being applied. In this case it’s not the actual colour, but a uni-colour bright green acting as a base for the Triton green as it gives a better cover over the grey primer;

Second coat and the first of three coats of Triton green;

I was nearly as nervous after the result as the guy who did the preparations. But looks very nice, although difficult to judge properly with the artificial light inside the spray booth. Can’t wait to see her in daylight. Coming Monday the sills and rear valances will be painted matt black. So she should be back home on Tuesday evening (if the weather allows).

Monday, 19 October 2009

As the body is still in the paint shop, I switched my attention to the cars switch gear. First thing I did was put the switch for an immobilizer in the dashboard. Thought it would take me less than 30 minutes to drill a few holes and screw the switch in. But as is probably normal with all small jobs it took me quite a lot longer. Mainly caused by the dome shaped stainless steel bolts I wanted to use because they are in sight. Turned out that their thread wasn’t as it should be, so needed to re-cut their threads to get the nuts to fit (couldn’t pick another pair as I only had one). As they are stainless re-cutting them was heavy work, which of course damaged the head of one of the bolts. So another 15 minutes extra to get the damage polished out with a variety of files and sanding pads. But after two hours the switch was in place;

After that it was time for the next switches, the switches and panel in the centre of the dashboard. First thing to do was to take the panel assembly apart;

And clean the two panels and provide them with a black coating. With that sorted it was time for the switches. I started with the most important one, the light switch. There are loads of horror stories around about their un-reliability, but in my opinion they are rather solid and reliable units (knock on wood :-), as long as they are cleaned so now and then. I always use a thin coat of copper grease on the contacts and till date never had a switch failure caused by corrosion. And as expected the light switch didn’t reveal any horrors, some very mild oxidation on the contacts that was pretty easy to remove;

Compared to the light-switch, the fog-light-switch was in a rather sorry state. Probably caused by the fact that it hasn’t been used since the car left the dealership on the 6th of June 1980, with no fog lights fitted;

But even this switch came up pretty well after a good clean with a copper-wire-brush on the trusty little Dremel tool;

Last switch to get a makeover was the hazard light switch, which didn’t reveal any horrors, just some mild corrosion and a bit of dirt. And to finish a good nights work I cleaned the clear plastic light bar, filled in the letters with fresh white paint and assembled the whole lot, making sure the light bar was properly blacked-out;

But probably most important news on the cars progress at the moment is that painting of the outside will start this Wednesday!

Saturday, 10 October 2009

This time waiting for its last journey as a bare shell, to the paint shop this time. But before we loaded the body onto the trailer, we first had to finish the paint preparations. Which meant sealing the various seams inside the boot;

The panels around the rear lights aperture;

The seam between rear wings and rear valances;

The seams from the “B” posts;

The front suspension turrets;

The interior;

And finally the engine bay;

Due to a small problem with my internet connection (modem blew itself up) this is all rather old news. Last Thursday I brought the body to the paint shop. By now the inside of the boot, the interior and the engine bay should be painted in lovely Triton Green. Hopefully will get some pictures next week, when I have to bring the bonnet, which I forgot in the rush to get the body to the paint shop in time. The painting should be completed somewhere in the next two weeks.